Thousands of students across the UK have been staging sit-ins, walk-outs and demonstrations to show their opposition to the increase in tuition fees.

The nationwide protest, organised by the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), has driven schoolchildren and sixth-formers as well as students and lecturers onto the streets to demonstrate.

It was estimated that at least one in ten students planned is taking part in protests today.

Here is a snapshot of some of the protests taking place.

:: Bristol - Nearly 1,000 students marched from the Senate House to the student union building, where hundreds have occupied the site. Students from the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England are protesting, as well as pupils from St Brendan's Sixth Form College and Bristol Grammar School. Roads have been blocked and mounted police are keeping demonstrators under control.

:: Liverpool - Students gathered at the Liverpool Guild of Students this morning to march to the town hall, monitored by heavy police presence. Up to 3,000 people staged a noisy but peaceful protest march through Liverpool city centre.

Watched over by scores of Merseyside Police, the crowd brought traffic to a standstill and attracted workers out of shops and offices to wave and cheer in support.

:: Birmingham - Protesters occupied part of the University of Birmingham's Great Hall, and up to 40 students broke into the Aston Webb building to stage a 36-hour sit-in. The students waved a banner calling for the university's vice chancellor to resign.

:: Sheffield - 2,000 students and secondary school pupils joined protests in the city, marching to Sheffield Town Hall for a mass demonstration. Nearly 300 pupils, mainly sixth formers, walked out of King Edward's School in Sheffield to join the rally, despite being warned that their absence was unauthorised. Reports of plans of a protest at Nick Clegg's constituency office in Sheffield led to extra officers being posted outside the building in Nether Green.

:: Leeds - 1,000 students made their way through the city centre to Victoria Gardens, where a large police presence was put in place. Up to 60 students walked out of Allerton Grange School in the north of the city to join the demonstration.